Lovin' Lovey

When I was young, my constant companion and best friend was "blankey." Blankey was a white blanket (used to be white....by the time my mom finally got rid of it I think it probably was more grayish than white) with red trim and little red hearts. Blankey took quite a beating and weathered the storm of my infancy and toddler years like a champ until he was finally retired- or disintegrated...not sure which happened first. I slept with blankey, I chewed on blankey, I think I remember an incident of throwing up in the barber shop and I'd put good money on the fact that blankey was there. I'm not sure how many times he survived the washing machine, being dragged around the floor and the great outdoors, but blankey was invincible.

Well.....Ben now has "lovey." Daddy had pound puppies, Mommy had blankey and Ben has his lovey. Granted, Ben isn't old enough to take lovey around with him during the day or even realize that lovey isn't there when he's downstairs playing with toys. I'm not sure he even has object permanence yet....except for lovey. Lovey is always in his crib, waiting for Ben when it's naptime and bedtime. As soon as we put Ben in the crib, he reaches for lovey. If we don't give it to him, he'll grope around in search for his "sleep associated best friend." He strokes his face with lovey, he has started to chew on/suck on lovey instead of a pacifier, he even falls asleep with lovey on his face (don't worry...as soon as he's asleep we go in and remove it from his face). Now that's he's rolling both directions and is sleeping on his stomach more, he falls asleep with his face on top of lovey. The other day I picked him up after his nap when he had been face down on lovey and there was a giant star imprint on his face from lovey's embroidered star. Lovey left his mark on Ben....

Lovey has already survived several hardships in his short life....just like blankey. I figure every stuffed animal/blanket/toy better be able to withstand some serious abuse or it will never survive. For those who don't know....lovey had surgery several months back. He came through his "rattle-ectomy" without a problem and is happily enjoying his new silenced life. He survived trauma #2 a few weeks back and I think/hope he's no worse for the wear. Lovey and Albus were getting kind of gross....they both get chewed on all the time and they were both kind of crunchy and crusty so it was time to give them both a bath. I looked at the tags....machine washable- so I threw them in with the rest of Ben's laundry. However....there should have been a surgeon general's warning tag on lovey stating "once rattle has been removed, MUST suture shut completely. Carter's company is not responsible for washing machine destruction post-op."

Yup....I went downstairs to move all the wash to the dryer later that morning and when I opened the lid, it looked like there were the dead white, wispy dandelions covering Ben's clean laundry. Lovey had NOT been stitched shut and all the stuffing came out of his head in the washing machine was was now overtaking my laundry. I'm glad Ben was not there to see lovey's remains. I managed to pick the stuffing out of the washing machine....laid it out on a paper towel to dry and then stuffed it back in lovey's head. Since I unfortunately don't sew....and probably don't even have a needle and thread anywhere in my house, lovey still has not been stitched up but at least I'll know next time to remove stuffing before washing him. He's no worse for the wear, and as we speak, Ben is happily sleeping in the crib with his pal.

And no....I don't still sleep with blankey. Yes Brian still sleeps with his pound puppy....but that pound puppy is now Brina :)